CO 2 Emissions from the Land Transport Sector in the Philippines: Estimates and Policy Implications

Abstract

Abstract: Local air pollution problems and as well as the impacts of climate change will continue to plague the Philippines unless a new paradigm for land-use and transportation planning is implemented. The transport sector plays a key role in economic development and cities are often cited as the “engines ” of growth of a country. In the past decades the transport planning model adopted by many countries, including the Philippines, prioritized the movement of cars and other motorized vehicles to facilitate the growing demand for mobility of passengers and goods. As such, this has led to the development of more roads, flyovers, and highways. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in the preference for private motorized travel as less investments were made for public transport and non-motorized transport like walking and cycling. The externalities of such actions can be seen in the deterioration of air quality in several cities, increase in road accidents and fatalities, and congestion. Recent estimates of CO2 and particulate (PM) emissions in the Philippines show that in 2008, emissions of CO2 totaled 30 million tons and 56 thousand tons of particulate matter. CO2 emissions from the transport sector accounted for 38 per cent of the total from fuel combustion in 2000. If the business-as-usual scenario prevails, the number of motorized